Embryonic stem cells are a very touchy subject given that they need to be harvested from embryos and pro-life proponents note the moral and ethical quandry in doing so. This is the first major breakthrough involving embryonic stem cells as much of the earlier breakthroughs in stem cell research have involved cord blood or adult stem cells, which are gathered without the problems associated with embryonic stem cells:
Scientists behind the advance said that it has huge therapeutic potential and could easily become the first application of embryonic stem-cell research to enter widespread clinical use. “Limitations in the supply of blood can have potentially life-threatening consequences for patients with massive blood loss,” said Robert Lanza, of Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) in Massachusetts, who led the experiments. “Embryonic stem cells represent a new source of cells that can be propagated and expanded indefinitely, providing a potentially inexhaustible source of red blood cells for human therapy. The identification of a stem cell line with O negative blood type would permit the production of compatible ‘universal donor’ blood.”
Blood comes in four groups, A, B, AB and O, and in two rhesus types, positive and negative, and only some of these are compatible with one another. A person with type A, for example, can donate to people with type A or AB, and receive blood of type A or O. Only O negative blood can be given to any patient.
No comments:
Post a Comment